Before the warriors of the Sixth Legion set out, 20,000 infantry from the Third Legion took over the two new steppe towns in the territory of Huchuquan and Chiul. The importance of these two new cities is self-evident, and they must be firmly in their own hands, and it is impossible for Liu Xin to hand them over to the Huns with confidence.

In order to wait for the 20,000 infantry of the Third Legion, the cavalry of the Sixth Legion set off a few days late. But they moved very quickly, and after a day and a night of rapid marching, they had come to the Mobei grassland.

Unlike the last attack on the Xiongnu steppe, it is now the nomadic season, and the various tribes on the steppe have returned to their pastures, and the herdsmen families of the same tribe have scattered to the corners of the grasslands. Different tactics were adopted in different situations, and Zhao Yun divided the 50,000 cavalry into squads of 100 people, and the groups communicated with each other through horns and fireworks. Each team received a road map, starting from Heyun, Weishan, Zhuoxie Mountain, and Junji Mountain at the same time, and swept all the way eastward, not letting go of any tent or any herd of cattle and sheep they encountered, whether they belonged to the Xianbei tribe or other small tribes.

This time, Liu Xin gave a death order to deal the most thorough blow to the Xianbei people and turn them into a small tribe on the grassland again. In order to let the soldiers unload their burdens, he also specially announced that if any soldiers killed Xianbei civilians in battle, they would not be held accountable for military discipline. The tribes of the steppe are all soldiers, and even a woman or a half-grown child may draw a bow and shoot arrows, and mercy to the enemy is cruelty to oneself.

The soldiers of the Sixth Legion have been stationed in the new city of the grassland for more than a year and have learned many survival skills on the grassland.

On this expedition, they carried almost no other supplies except for water bladders and a small amount of emergency food such as nutritious fried noodles and maren candy specially made by the Han army. Each warrior was equipped with two warhorses, and both were mares for littering. The steppes are full of fine pastures, which provide ample mare's milk. Although the mare's milk has a bit of a smell, the warriors have lived on the steppe for so long that they have fully adapted to it.

In addition to mare's milk, the cattle and sheep raised by Xianbei or other tribes encountered along the way will become their delicacy, and they will be like the steppe people, adopting the strategy of fighting to feed the war, without the support of logistics.

Behind them, there were also 20,000 Huns.

A long time ago, Xianbei was just a small tribe attached to the account of the Huns, as the Huns were defeated by the Han, their inherent pastures were gradually encroached by Xianbei, and even many Xiongnu tribes had to rely on the snort of the Xianbei people and struggled to survive. The Huns dreamed that they would one day be able to gallop again on the Mobei grassland, and the Han people's campaign against Xianbei this time gave them this opportunity.

Hu Chuquan and the others unanimously asked to participate in the battle against Xianbei, and although Zhao Yun did not promise them to rush to the front line, he finally agreed that they would send 20,000 young men to follow, responsible for containing prisoners and escorting the spoils of war. Zhao Yun's purpose in doing this was also to make an example of the Huns, so that the Huns would understand that there would be no good end to confronting the Han Dynasty. In fact, it is more accurate to say that it is better to kill monkeys and chickens, because the current Xianbei is far more powerful than the Xiongnu.

Ma Chao, who had just been promoted to deputy commander of the Sixth Army, personally led a team of 100 people to the front. He set out from Heyun, and arrived at a lake at noon that day, the map of the land is clearly called the West Sea, and there is a small river called Ganwei River that winds eastward from here, and the surrounding water and grass are abundant, and there are herds of cattle and sheep, which is an important pasture in Xianbei.

Ma Chao waved his iron spear and shouted in a deep voice: "Kill!" ”

This pasture now belongs to the Jianman tribe. Since the Kuitou took the throne, the Jianman tribe has been ostracized and driven to the grassland closest to the Xiongnu steppe, which means that they will face the threat of the Xiongnu in the west. Because this is the border between the two ethnic groups, in order to prevent attacks, more than 30 herdsmen have set up tents together to take care of each other.

However, all the adult males in their families were recruited by the chiefs to go to the Han Dynasty, and now only the elderly, women, children, and slaves they had taken captive were left in the house. The steppe is brave, half-grown children can draw bows and arrows, and women can also go into battle to kill the enemy, so even if there is no male master in the family, the slaves do not dare to resist easily, and can only obediently work and graze.

The herd of sheep and cattle was herded by six slaves belonging to three herder families. Slaves were well distinguished from herdsmen, and their faces were mostly tattooed with various patterns to indicate their belonging, and slaves were not allowed to carry weapons, especially bows and arrows. The slaves, who had nothing but a whip in their hands, immediately cowered to the side when they saw the cavalry sweeping in, and did not dare to make any resistance.

According to the rules of the steppe, in battle, men taller than the wheels would be killed, and not resisting was the wisest choice for these slaves. Only this time Liu Xin's order was extremely thorough, a Han cavalry rode past those slaves, and with a wave of his hand, the head of a slave flew up in the air, and dozens of cavalrymen raised their sabers and pounced on those slaves.

Just as the remaining five slaves were dying to themselves, a young general was overheard shouting, "Wait! ”

The long-term training had long made the Han soldiers have a conditioned reflex to the order, and under Ma Chao's order, the half-split saber came to an abrupt end, and the war horse neighed and circled around, surrounding the five slaves in the middle.

Ma Chao's iron spear pointed at the slaves, and shouted in a deep voice: "Let them lead the way and go to the camp!" ”

Among the five slaves, one Han Chinese, one Xiongnu, and three Xianbei were all young children who had been captured in the course of previous tribal wars or raids on the Han border, and grew up with these Xianbei families. But since they were young, they have been forced to do all kinds of dirty work, and if they disobey the slightest bit, they will be beaten severely or even beaten to death. Many of their companions who were taken captive with them died before they reached adulthood. Even if they were lucky enough to survive, life would have been extremely miserable. In addition to their work, they also eat poorly, not even as good as a hunting dog kept by their master, and of course, their master is not likely to marry them for them, and they are destined to die alone.

In the face of ordinary herdsmen, these slaves did not dare to resist, not to mention that in the face of this group of menacing soldiers, several slaves obediently walked in front.

Although the grassland is endless, the grassland is too large and the grass grows extremely tall, and it is not particularly easy to find a tent without a guide, so Zhao Yun will adopt a dragnet investigation strategy. Now with these slaves leading the way, everything was much easier, and soon dozens of felt tents appeared.

"Kill!" It is not easy to encounter so many tents at once in the nomadic season, Ma Chao even had some doubts, this is a camp of the leader of the Xianbei tribe, he couldn't help but get excited, and rushed to the front with a gun.

It was time to eat, and the old and weak women and children in the camp were staying in their tents, enjoying the delicious roast lamb and butter mare's milk, when suddenly they felt the earth tremble, and even the tents trembled. The perennial grassland life made them quickly alert, and there were cavalry rushing here.

There was a quick reaction, quickly grabbed a bow and arrow and rushed out of the tent, but before he could see the figure of the comer, he heard a "whoosh" sound, and an arrow had already pierced his throat. One after another, people rushed out of the tents, either falling under the indiscriminate arrows or being cut in two. Without young adults, they were powerless in the face of the heavily armed Han cavalry, and became a flock of lambs to the slaughter.

Everyone in the camp was driven out of their tents and gathered on the Ganwei River next to the camp, where a cart was pushed. As people living on the grassland, they naturally understood what these Han soldiers wanted to do. Several slaves cried out in horror and unwillingly, and some of them spoke Chinese.

Ma Chao's heart moved, and he suddenly pointed with his hand and said, "Bring it here!" ”

It was a Han slave with black hair and black eyes, but his original yellow skin had become dark due to long-term exposure. The Han slave tearfully recounted her misery. His name was Luo Xiang, a native of Juyan, Liangzhou, and in the winter when he was seven years old, a Xianbei cavalry attacked his village, killing all the adult men in the village, robbing all the property, and making the women and children slaves of the Xianbei people. More than ten years have passed, Luo Xiang is nearly thirty years old, and he is not so fluent in Chinese, but his heart is still towards the Han, he doesn't want to die like this, he is willing to pick up swords, guns, bows and arrows, and help the Han army fight against the Xianbei people together.

Ma Chao laughed and said, "You don't need to pick up knives, guns, bows and arrows, just use your own weapons to help us." ”

Luo Xiang said with a blank face: "But the slave only has a horsewhip. ”

Ma Chao waved his hand and said, "Your weapon is your body!" Luo Xiang, let me ask you, do you want a woman? ”

Although he has lived for thirty years, Luo Xiang has really never touched a woman in his life. Listening to Ma Chao's question, Luo Xiang's face couldn't help but turn red, and he snorted: "I want to think about it, but I'm just a slave, how dare I have this luxury, I can only ...... in my dreams."

"Listen, I'll give you this chance right now!" Ma Chao waved his hand, pointed to the group of men and women who were escorted to the river, and asked, "Which ones belong to your master's family?" ”

If it was the Huns or other steppe tribes who captured them, Luo Xiang would not dare to talk nonsense, but now that they were captured by his own compatriots, Luo Xiang's courage also increased, and he walked to the river and pointed at those men and women one by one with his hands. Anyone who was pointed out by Luo Xiang was immediately picked out by the Han soldiers.